The Daily Blog Open Mic – Tuesday 26th July 2016

1. Hi rail stakeholders,

   So how are Government going to tackle this suggestion now, as last November on RNZ Kiwirail asked for funding to be under NZTA rules.

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/288334/kiwirail-calls-for-support-for-trains

   KiwiRail calls for support for trains
   5:07 pm on 29 October 2015

   The state transport company KiwiRail has made an impassioned plea for support from the government and public.

   Speaking at the release of the annual report, KiwiRail chairman John Spencer insisted that money pays for vital infrastructure, not KiwiRail’s daily operations.

   “KiwiRail itself, if you put the network to one side, we can survive, we do not need any money from government at all as a commercial operation,” he said. “Where the money is needed is on the network.”

   “We do not have enough volume on our rail to pay for the network, it is as simple as that.”

   Kiwirail & it’s CEO & his Board Chair, had already asked this in a press release for Kiwirail be funded under the same rules as road is with a “emergency fund to fix things like road washouts without firstly assessing if it is a viable task?

   No response ever came from Government/NZTA, on or after 29th October 2015 so WHAT WILL BE THE RESPONSE NOW?

   Now we also need to publically discuss this and the need for a re-commissioning a position of Minister of rail again hence rail is now under public ownership again since being severed when the Shipley Government decommissioned Minister of rail when our rail was privatised back in 1992.

   Government needs now to consider a new position for “Minister of Rail” because it is run by a road controlling agency (ingrained) we need a strong single representation after seeing that the three Ministers of “Transport all let the rail die?
   Interesting times abound.

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